"Adventure is out there!" -Ellie from Pixar's Up!
Doesn't it seem that everyone's leaving? They're all off to find the adventure that is "out there". Except you, of course!
Your father's on a business trip to wonderful and well-missed Arizona, and you must stay home.
Your younger friend is finally getting out and going to college, and you are home.
Your older friends are going back for their junior year, and you are home.
Your friends that are actually the same age are heading back for more independence, more classes, and more adventure, and you are home.
It's easy to think that you're stuck. It's easy to think that everyone else must be on their way, off to find adventure, and you are sitting alone, waiting for adventure to find you. You aren't studying for high school finals or college testing. You've got a part-time job and you're helping out at home, or just hanging around. Don't you feel lazy? Don't you feel like a loser? What are you DOING? People will ask me, "So, aren't you in college, or....?" The unasked question can unintentionally leave you feeling as if you're in the slow-lane, or even in the wrong.
My best friend isn't in college and she isn't in high school. We were the best pair, the two "old twenty-somethings" who were waiting, finding new things to do in the in-between.
And now she is leaving, too.
Granted, she's not going to college, but she's off to a new life and a new adventure with her family, and here I am, still waiting. Am I just being aimless and stupid?
Absolutely not.
I'll go more into my reasons later, but I am justified to remain here, no matter how frustrated or guilty I may feel for it sometimes. I'm where I need to be. College is not a must-have, and if I am going to go to college, I'd rather not be up to my ears in debt and constantly switching my major. But what am I here to tell you? That I'm not in college and I don't care? Nothing you haven't heard before, I'm sure.
But no, I'm here to tell you that this in-between time that you feel stuck in?
It can be AWESOME.
You can work two jobs if you want, you can visit with friends more than anyone, you can take free classes simply to try your hand at something new, you can house-sit when no one else is available, you can save your money for what you really want to do, and all-in-all you can have a pretty fantastically jam-packed schedule even when you aren't in school.
Sometimes I think I have less time than my college friends, but I'm enjoying everything that I'm doing.
So go on, go out! You might not be showing that dejection on the outside, but let it go inside, too. Just keep an eager and curious spirit. Go and find good things to fill your time, because this place is wonderful.
This place is full of adventure. Go and discover it, where you are right now.
